File photo
The National Investigation Agency on Friday filed a chargesheet in a Hyderabad court against 11 members of banned Muslim-managed outfit Popular Front of India, accusing them of recruiting people for terror purpose. The terror recruiting camp was busted by the Telangana police more than six months ago.
The chargesheet has been filed in relation to the case that was registered after the police in Nizamabad district busted an alleged sleeper cell of the PFI. The police registered the case in the Nizamabad police station on July 4, which was subsequently taken over by the National Investigation Agency on August 26.
The Union government had banned PFI in September for five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly having links with terror groups. The government notification on the ban alleged that the Muslim organisation along with its eight affiliates have been involved in “violent terrorist activities” and intended to create a reign of terror in the country, endangering security and public order.
In the Nizamabad case, the National Investigation Agency has alleged that the accused persons radicalised young Muslims and recruited them to the Popular Front of India “through speeches filled with hatred and venom against the government of India as well as other organisations and individuals”, ANI reported.
“Once recruited into the PFI (Popular Front of India), Muslim youths were sent to training camps organised by the PFI under the cover and guise of yoga classes and physical education…,” the NIA official alleged, according to the Newsminute. “In the ‘beginners course’, they were trained in the use of everyday articles (such as knives, sickles and iron rods) to kill a person by attacking vulnerable body parts such as throat, stomach and head, and for the commission of terror acts”, the spokesperson also alleged.
The NIA claimed that after recruitment, they were sent to training camps “under the guise of yoga and physical education classes”, the investigation agency has alleged in its chargesheet.
The 11 accused persons have been charged under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code as well as four Sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
-INDIA NEWS STREAM